The Nash-Rocky Mount district includes 16 elementary schools, which serve a total of 7,000 elementary school students. However, there are only eight security cameras and zero school resource officers present among the 16 schools, and the public has called for more security and safety measures.

"How are we doing right now? I would say that we are not doing really well in regards to the safety piece, but we recognized that we needed to make something happen," said Tremain McQueen, chief technology officer for Nash-Rocky Mount Schools.

All schools in the district do have access control measures, such as locks, login credentials and panic devices, but officials said they want to do more to ensure safety for elementary students.

"This is an extreme priority for us," said Shannon Davis, director of maintenance for Nash-Rocky Mount Public Schools. "The elementary kids are the most vulnerable kids."

According to district leaders, they need funding to purchase at least 500 cameras for the elementary campuses. Currently, Swift Creek Elementary is the only campus with cameras, as it’s the furthest from law enforcement.

District officials hope to receive additional state funding or grants that can be used to fund security upgrades. The goal is to install school security cameras on every campus to allow officials to monitor the situation from anywhere.

"[We want to] be able to possibly see a target and potentially being able to get into a lockdown situation in any school incident," Davis said. "You know time saves lives."